Write to a Clone Day
by creativeone298
Summary: Jalena Indiarra is in a class that is writing holomail to clones for a project. When Jalena gets assigned to Fives, she starts to realize that she cares for him. (This isn't going to be a romance story)
1. What and Why?

Write to a clone day. It was something that Jalena's school had never tried before, but with the Republic just having saved their planet from Separatist occupation, they figured it was the least they could do. Jalena already knew that it would be awkward. What would she write to a clone about anyway?

They were all getting assigned numbers from the 501st Legion, who had provided most of the offense against the Separatists. It was part of the day's events—they would have to research the number in a Republic database, which would provide the nickname of their clone, and the battles that they had been in. After that, they would have to research the battles. To Jalena, it was already starting to sound like the preparations that she would do for a research paper.

The teacher, Mr. Undari, had printed all of the numbers onto slips of paper, cut them up, and put them into a hat. Everyone whispered excitedly, hoping to get one of the more well-known clones.

"I hope I get to write to Captain Rex!"

"Did you hear how he did at the battle of…"

So on and so forth. Naturally, everyone begged for first choice, and when Yarkay got first, everyone looked at him with an envious glare. He read off the designation number, and groaned when he realized that he hadn't heard of the clone behind it. So did most other people after him, but some got clones that they recognized. Clinee yelled that he got Rex and everyone in line behind him groaned, since he was apparently the only clone anyone wanted to contact. Finally, Jalena got to the front, and picked up a slip of paper. ARC-5555. She let out a low whistle. She didn't know much about clones from the tiny unit her class had done about them, but she knew that beginning of the designation number. Her clone was an ARC trooper. Jalena's interest level rose.

As she looked Fives up, she was continually impressed by his battle skills. After trying to not shed a tear after reading his description of the events on the Battle of Umbara, she decided to write him.

_Dear Fives,_

_It's "write to a clone" day at my school, so that was the original reason I was going to write to you. You know, a half-effort "thanks for saving our planet." But that's before I found about your battle skills. You sound amazing! I'll bet it's terrifying out there, but kudos to you for fighting on the front lines a lot (I heard the 501st gets a lot of action). _

_Now that that's over with, what are you like as an individual? I read your description about Umbara, and you made a point of clones being different people. So, what's there to know about you? Do you have any good friends? See any cute girls (or boys, I dunno) around the galaxy? What do clones do for fun? If you could write back, that'd be awesome._

_Sincerely,_

_Jalena Indiarra._

As Jalena hit the button that would send it to his holomail account, she started feeling stupid. What if Fives thought that she was annoying? What if he didn't respond, or gave her a cookie-cutter response? Her thoughts were cut off by the bell that signified the end of the day, and she walked home, wondering again if she'd get a response from her soldier.


	2. Fives' Response

Two weeks had passed since Jalena had written to Fives. During that time, Jalena had taken to watching the news with her parents, hoping to find some mention of him. Her parents had wondered what made Jalena suddenly inclined to current events, but Jalena didn't say. She didn't know why, but she wanted to keep her and Fives' communication to herself. Finally, she checked her holomail account, and an email from the address: ARC-5555 . She suppressed a victorious shout and opened the holomail.

_ To Jalena:_

_ "Write to a clone" day, eh? A lot of my brothers have gotten these letters as well, but since yours was longer than most of theirs, I'm taking a bit longer to respond. You're welcome for saving your planet—it's my job. To your other point, the battlefield can be scary sometimes, but it's become routine for most of us 501st guys, because, like you said, we do get a lot of action. _

_ Do I have any friends? Yeah, I like a guy named Tup. He's a good guy. I also like General Skywalker—you're bound to have heard of him, you know, the reckless Jedi who always manages to save the day. A girl who I would consider a friend, Commander Tano, recently left the Jedi order, and her position as Commander—I didn't see her as much as Captain Rex, but I did like her. I miss her. I actually see a lot of cute girls around the galaxy (and some of my counterparts do "bat for the other team," so to speak, but I don't know how old you are, and because of that, whether or not I should explain why), but I never actually get to talk to them, or they're married (lucky me). What do clones do for fun? Well, a lot of us have fun by going to the clone bar, but getting drunk isn't my number one way to have fun. I like to trade stories, and grab a bite of actual civilian food to eat. Also, some of us do like to read—I'm currently reading a story written about a Sith who falls madly in love with a Jedi. I find it best to read stories that aren't about being a soldier—too close to home._

_ Now, Jalena, I have some questions for you. How old are you? What's your favorite thing to study? What's your opinion on the senate?_

_ Sincerely,_

_ Fives_

Jalena was happy. Fives had certainly not disappointed her with his reply. Unfortunately, she didn't have time to write up a reply because she had to go to school. She started on the road to the hallowed halls of learning, when she was joined up by her friend, Undia.

"You seem to have an extra spring in your step. What gives?" Undia asked. Jalena paused, still wanting to keep the fact that she was extremely excited about Fives writing her back a secret.

"Mom made me my favorite breakfast this morning. Also, it's sunny for the first time in forever. What's not to love?"

"Good point." The rest of the way was silent, and the girls got to the school on the warning bell, causing them to scurry to their classroom.

"Good morning, class." Mr. Undari said, his voice brighter than usual. "We have some good news today; I just received word that the final clone trooper has sent in his response! That means that we can compare and contrast letters, and our opinions on them!" The class erupted in conversation; most people had gotten a response that had disappointed them. As Mr. Undari asked everyone to pull up their holomails, Jalena got nervous—she saw that hers was more personal than most of her classmates'. Most of them had sent emails, asking them about particular battles or talking solely about how "cool" and "awesome" they were, leaving no room for response but a polite "thank you." As the lunch bell rang, Jalena pulled her teacher aside; she was going to try to have her privacy intact.

"Jalena. This is unusual." Mr. Undari said.

"I know. Look, my letter is kind of…personal, and I don't want to parade it in front of the class. Is it okay if nobody sees it?"

"Didn't you pay attention? I said that you were going to have to share your letter with the class."

"No—I originally thought this would be stupid, but I started to like Fives. If someone must read it, can you read it for a grade and dock two percent or something for it not being read to the class? It's got all of the material you asked for." Jalena huffed. Mr. Undari pulled up the holomail, and proceeded to read the exchange between Jalena and Fives.

"This is actually 100 percent material…if you would just let me read it…" Mr. Undari smirked, knowing he had Jalena beaten. He knew that she was invested in this project, and she definitely needed the perfect score to boost her grade.

Jalena hung her head. "Fine. You can read it. Just don't make a huge deal about it, okay?" Jalena walked away to the lunchroom.

"What was that about?" Undia asked. Jalena felt horrible coming up with two lies to her friend today, but she also didn't want to ruin her image.

"My grades." Jalena muttered, settling for a half-lie.

"Oh. You think you'll have to do summer school?"

"Not after what I just settled with Mr. Undari."

"What did you settle?"

Jalena sighed. "You'll see."


	3. What do They Think?

Jalena spent all lunch and recess nervous and jittery in anticipation of her class reading her letter to Fives and his reply. There were only a few more letters and responses left to go, and most of them were kids she knew would have the same cookie-cutter letters and responses as everyone else in the class. Everyone was looking forward to Clinee's, seeing as he had written to Captain Rex. Personally, Jalena was looking forward to that one as well, seeing as Rex had many good stories to share. The class went through the last four people before Clinee and Jalena in a tired stupor, and then, not too soon, Clinee stepped up.

"So, as you guys might have found out, I got Captain Rex in the drawing. I will now share my letter and his response:

_Dear Captain Rex,_

_I think that your battle skills are legendary. The fight on Geonosis caught my eye. You refused to back down and surrender, and I call that good leadership. I'm sorry for your losses during the Battle of Teth. Is it hard being the Captain of the 501__st__ Legion? Good job on leading the 501__st__._

_Sincerely,_

_Clinee Fueun."_

If Clinee had followed the rubric to its bare minimum any further, he'd have to copy and paste it into the letter. Jeez, his was worse than the normal ones. It was clear that his research had been minimal; they'd learned about both Battles of Geonosis in history class, and the Battle of Teth was the first result to come up on 501st holopage. Jalena was still anxious to see how Rex would respond. She knew that if Rex's reply was strong, it could boost Clinee's grade.

"Now, I'll read the response of the esteemed Captain:

_Dear Clinee,_

_Thanks for the compliment on my battle skills. It took a lot of experience to get them this way. I would hope that Geonosis would catch your eye; if it didn't, you probably have lived under a rock for the past two or three years, depending on_ which _Battle of Geonosis you meant. I am also sorry for the losses of the lives of my brothers at the Battle of Teth, but as a seasoned clone, I have learned to take it and move on. Is it hard being the Captain of the 501__st__? Sometimes it is, when it seems as though you have all odds against you. We always seem to make it with some clever plan of General Skywalker's and the work of my men. Again, thank you for the compliment, kid._

_Sincerely,_

_Captain Rex."_

For that entire time, Jalena had been struggling to not laugh. Rex had very thinly veiled his insults and displeasure at the lack of research and creativity. It made her letter look positively golden. Rex managed to sound inspiring and ridicule Clinee, which (if she'd heard the rumors correctly) probably came from General Skywalker. All eyes were on Mr. Undari as he typed furiously on his keyboard.

Finally, he breathed in and started: "Well, Clinee. That was a fine bit of research you did, yes?" The class laughed. "What can we learn from the Captain of the 501st Legion?" As the class started to discuss what they could learn from Rex's messages, which were powerful, Jalena nervously brought up her holomail and mumbled her exchange with Fives for what seemed like the hundredth time. Though her letter was personal, there was really nothing that she wanted to hide. After about five minutes after the discussion had started, and ten minutes before class was supposed to end, Mr. Undari halted the discussion (which was centering on moving on from losses and how clones had to get used to it) to call Jalena to the projector. She gulped nervously and stepped up to the podium.

"Hi. I got ARC trooper Fives as the clone I got to write to, and I found him to be a pretty fascinating guy. I hope you like what we had to say:" Jalena then proceeded to read her and Fives' discourse aloud. Her classmates sat, enthralled as Fives read his response, and then a few snickers as they got to what Fives was reading. Her holomails alone had taken up almost all of the time before the bell, so, thankfully, there was no discussion about what their exchange had taught them.

The bell rang, and Jalena set off to her house. As she walked, Clinee appeared behind her.

"Hey Jalena! You and your boyfriend Fives planning on writing again?" Jalena felt her temper flare up, but she kept it under control because that's what one clone had advised them to do in his response. "I'll bet that Fives makes you want to…" Clinee started making obnoxious sexual sounds. Jalena was losing her patience.

"You heard that he's seen a lot of cute girls in the galaxy. What makes you think that I'm one of them?"

"Oh, he may not want you, but you surely want him. I could see it in your eyes." Clinee adopted a falsetto: "Oh Fives! Let me take off that armor of yours and-"

"Bug off, Clinee. At least Fives actually liked me."

"You and your try-hard letter just raised the bar for everyone else! Now we're all going to fail just because you had a crush on an ARC in shining armor."

"His armor doesn't shine; he has battlefield experience. He isn't a shinie anymore—you'd know that veteran clones' armor doesn't shine if you had listened during Tup's response."

Clinee's eyebrow twitched. "Why is the class slacker suddenly interested in the Grand Army of the Republic?" By now, there was a decent crowd watching the shouting match and some were telling Jalena and Clinne to fight.

"I'm interested in this because it pertains to the life that we live! They just saved our asses from the Seps, and they're responsible for whether or not that will happen again!" Jalena screamed.

"I don't see any clones around here! They came for maybe a week and then we never saw their faces ever again! You just want to look smart on this because you're failing Maths, Science, and Galactic Basic!"

Jalena's breaking point had been reached. She hit Clinee with a haymaker to the jawbone. The crowd had grown much bigger at this point, and the din was so loud that you could hear it from inside the school.

"Is that all you've got? Next time you write Fives, ask him for some fighting tips; you hit like a girl!"

"I'm going to show you how hard a girl hits!" Jalena yelled as she tackled Clinee to the ground and started to beat the daylight out of him. Clinee flipped them over and got on top of her. She narrowly missed getting socked in the nose and ended up with a nasty bruise under her eye. By doing this, Clinee had left himself in a vulnerable position. Jalena brought up her knee and hit him square in the groin. Clinee fell to the ground with a yelp, clutching his gonads. "Leave me alone, okay? I try not to fight, but you make the temptation really hard to resist." Jalena got up and slowly parted the sea of people that had gathered around the two of them when she felt a hand on her shoulder.

"You and Clinee are in deep trouble." Jalena turned around and her face went pale. It wasn't often that the headmaster came to the scene of altercations himself.


	4. You're in Trouble

Jalena and Clinee sat in the headmaster's office in a stony silence as their parents were called. When the secretary ran to use the bathroom, Clinee turned to Jalena.

"Thanks a lot. You've landed us both in trouble."

"Well, you were the one who started egging me on. You wouldn't let up even though I asked you to stop."

"You punched first!" Clinee's voice rose.

"Pipe down, will you? You're going to get us in more trouble." For once, Clinee actually listened to Jalena. She sighed and slumped in her seat. This would be her first suspension from school, if she got one. Detentions weren't new to her, but she'd never gotten in a full-out brawl with anyone on school grounds. Her parents were probably going to impose serious punishments on her, as a result of the fight and her failing grades. Jalena wanted to cry, but she couldn't show weakness in front of Clinee, who was sitting next to her in an upright fetal position.

"My parents are going to kill me, you know? My record was squeaky clean before this." Clinee muttered.

"Maybe you should have thought about that before teasing me." Jalena huffed. Just then, Clinee's parents stormed in. Just after them came the witnesses that the administration could round up. About five minutes later, Jalena's parents walked in and glared at her. The secretary shepherded them down to an oval-shaped table, and the interrogation began.

"Let's get down to business, shall we? We're here because of a fistfight between Jalena Indiarra and Clinee Fueun. Now, witnesses say that there was verbal assault before the physical fight actually began. Care to elaborate?" the headmaster said, looking at an older boy.

"I started watching when I heard Clinee using that high voice to imitate Jalena. I got something about taking off armor. They then argued about whether clones mattered to us or not, Clinee insulted Jalena about her bad grades, and then she swung." The headmaster nodded pensively.

"That's not what I heard." Jalena's face fell. That was one of Clinee's friends…now that she looked up from the metal table she saw that there were a good amount of them. Would they all be willing to lie for him? If so, she could have this entire incident backed up the word of her and two people. Stellar. "I heard that Jalena insulted his letter to Rex, calling it 'vapid' and 'uncreative.' Personally, I think that she was jealous that Clinee got him." Damn, Clinee's friends were going to defend him!

"That's a bantha-sized load of lies." Jalena spoke up, hoping to get her version in before too many of Clinee's friends could speak. "Clinee came up to me and teased me about Fives being my boyfriend. I didn't respond, and then he implied in a crude way that I wanted to have sex with Fives. I told him that Fives probably didn't want me, and then he accused me of upping the standards of my holomail too high; as a result, everyone would get worse grades for it. He told me that my grades were crappy, and then I socked him in the jaw."

"That sounds about in line with what I heard." the boy from earlier said. Jalena sent him a grateful look and vowed to thank him as soon as this was over.

"He's just protecting Jalena." a third friend of Clinee's spoke up. Jalena had to restrain herself from yelling 'you bullshitting hypocrite' at the top of her lungs, but she knew that now was not the time to talk. "I heard it kind of like how Neluj said." The rest of Clinee's yes-men all chimed in with their agreement. Jalena knew that she was doomed.

"They're all lying. I heard it where Clinee was making obnoxious sex noises, and from there, it's a repeat of Jalena's story." An older girl said. Jalena gave her a weak nod, but she knew it wouldn't make a difference. Clinee knew some of the most popular and smartest kids in school, and the headmaster would trust every one of their opinions. On the other hand, Jalena had a boy from the theater club and a girl who she had heard saying that being a bounty hunter wouldn't be a bad career option. The principal then dismissed everyone but Clinee, Jalena, and their families. He then took the parents into a room while the secretary watched over the two perpetrators. After about ten minutes, the principal walked out of his office.

"Okay. Clinee, you're suspended for a day from school and you're cleaning the desks of the eighth-year science students after the dissection this year." Clinee sunk in his seat. "Jalena, you get four days of suspension, as well as cleaning the mess hall for a month." Clinee smirked at Jalena as she groaned. The mess hall was undoubtedly the filthiest place in the school; even worse than the bathrooms. The eighth-years did their dissection for one day. That was it! Clinee would need to clean up a minimal amount of animal parts and equipment from two classrooms. Jalena would have to clean up stuff that she wasn't sure that she would qualify as food. Also, she was suspended for way longer. She was seething because of the injustice, but her parents ushered her out of the office. The silence they rode home in spoke louder to Jalena than words. Jalena and her parents walked into the house.

"It goes without saying that the entire time you're suspended, you'll be here, doing all of the chores around the house." Jalena nodded. "However, we need to know something. Was the story you were telling at the office one hundred percent true?" Jalena's mother looked her in the eyes.

"Yeah, I was telling the truth." Jalena's mother was an expert at telling whether or not someone was lying. She had only been wrong twice in her life, and none of them involved Jalena.

"We won't punish you afterward since you're telling the truth. Are you really that interested in the current events of the war? I see you watching the news with me and mama."

"Ever since Fives wrote me back asking for my opinion on the senate." Jalena's parents looked at each other and nodded.

"Keep corresponding with Fives. He sounds like a good influence." Jalena's mama said.

"I think that a soldier would like a break after seeing blood and death all day." Jalena's mother continued.

"I think I'll just do that."

"After you do the dishes."

Jalena and Clinee sat in the headmaster's office in a stony silence as their parents were called. When the secretary ran to use the bathroom, Clinee turned to Jalena.

"Thanks a lot. You've landed us both in trouble."

"Well, you were the one who started egging me on. You wouldn't let up even though I asked you to stop."

"You punched first!" Clinee's voice rose.

"Pipe down, will you? You're going to get us in more trouble." For once, Clinee actually listened to Jalena. She sighed and slumped in her seat. This would be her first suspension from school, if she got one. Detentions weren't new to her, but she'd never gotten in a full-out brawl with anyone on school grounds. Her parents were probably going to impose serious punishments on her, as a result of the fight and her failing grades. Jalena wanted to cry, but she couldn't show weakness in front of Clinee, who was sitting next to her in an upright fetal position.

"My parents are going to kill me, you know? My record was squeaky clean before this." Clinee muttered.

"Maybe you should have thought about that before teasing me." Jalena huffed. Just then, Clinee's parents stormed in. Just after them came the witnesses that the administration could round up. About five minutes later, Jalena's parents walked in and glared at her. The secretary shepherded them down to an oval-shaped table, and the interrogation began.

"Let's get down to business, shall we? We're here because of a fistfight between Jalena Indiarra and Clinee Undia. Now, witnesses say that there was verbal assault before the physical fight actually began. Care to elaborate?" the headmaster said, looking at an older boy.

"I started watching when I heard Clinee using that high voice to imitate Jalena. I got something about taking off armor. They then argued about whether clones mattered to us or not, Clinee insulted Jalena about her bad grades, and then she swung." The headmaster nodded pensively.

"That's not what I heard." Jalena's face fell. That was one of Clinee's friends…now that she looked up from the metal table she saw that there were a good amount of them. Would they all be willing to lie for him? If so, she could have this entire incident backed up the word of her and two people. Stellar. "I heard that Jalena insulted his letter to Rex, calling it 'vapid' and 'uncreative.' Personally, I think that she was jealous that Clinee got him." Damn, Clinee's friends were going to defend him!

"That's a bantha-sized load of lies." Jalena spoke up, hoping to get her version in before too many of Clinee's friends could speak. "Clinee came up to me and teased me about Fives being my boyfriend. I didn't respond, and then he implied in a crude way that I wanted to have sex with Fives. I told him that Fives probably didn't want me, and then he accused me of upping the standards of my holomail too high; as a result, everyone would get worse grades for it. He told me that my grades were crappy, and then I socked him in the jaw."

"That sounds about in line with what I heard." the boy from earlier said. Jalena sent him a grateful look and vowed to thank him as soon as this was over.

"He's just protecting Jalena." a third friend of Clinee's spoke up. Jalena had to restrain herself from yelling 'you bullshitting hypocrite' at the top of her lungs, but she knew that now was not the time to talk. "I heard it kind of like how Neluj said." The rest of Clinee's yes-men all chimed in with their agreement. Jalena knew that she was doomed.

"They're all lying. I heard it where Clinee was making obnoxious sex noises, and from there, it's a repeat of Jalena's story." An older girl said. Jalena gave her a weak nod, but she knew it wouldn't make a difference. Clinee knew some of the most popular and smartest kids in school, and the headmaster would trust every one of their opinions. On the other hand, Jalena had a boy from the theater club and a girl who she had heard saying that being a bounty hunter wouldn't be a bad career option. The principal then dismissed everyone but Clinee, Jalena, and their families. He then took the parents into a room while the secretary watched over the two perpetrators. After about ten minutes, the principal walked out of his office.

"Okay. Clinee, you're suspended for a day from school and you're cleaning the desks of the eighth-year science students after the dissection this year." Clinee sunk in his seat. "Jalena, you get four days of suspension, as well as cleaning the mess hall for a month." Clinee smirked at Jalena as she groaned. The mess hall was undoubtedly the filthiest place in the school; even worse than the bathrooms. The eighth-years did their dissection for one day. That was it! Clinee would need to clean up a minimal amount of animal parts and equipment from two classrooms. Jalena would have to clean up stuff that she wasn't sure that she would qualify as food. Also, she was suspended for way longer. She was seething because of the injustice, but her parents ushered her out of the office. The silence they rode home in spoke louder to Jalena than words. Jalena and her parents walked into the house.

"It goes without saying that the entire time you're suspended, you'll be here, doing all of the chores around the house." Jalena nodded. "However, we need to know something. Was the story you were telling at the office one hundred percent true?" Jalena's mother looked her in the eyes.

"Yeah, I was telling the truth." Jalena's mother was an expert at telling whether or not someone was lying. She had only been wrong twice in her life, and none of them involved Jalena.

"We won't punish you afterward since you're telling the truth. Are you really that interested in the current events of the war? I see you watching the news with me and mama."

"Ever since Fives wrote me back asking for my opinion on the senate." Jalena's parents looked at each other and nodded.

"Keep corresponding with Fives. He sounds like a good influence." Jalena's mama said.

"I think that a soldier would like a break after seeing blood and death all day." Jalena's mother continued.

"I think I'll just do that."

"After you do the dishes."


	5. Let it Out

Jalena wiped the sweat off her brow and put down the dish towel. After three hours of intense scrubbing, the kitchen had passed both of her mothers' inspections and she was ready to vent her troubles to Fives.

Jalena went up to her room, pulled up her holomail account, and though her feelings felt as though they were being squeezed through a tiny crack at first, she opened up eventually.

_Dear Fives,_

_How has life been for you recently? Any war stories you've passed on to all of the other clones so much that they're sick of hearing them? My life's been interesting lately, but I'll get to that part later. _

_In response to your questions, I am twelve standard years old, my favorite thing to study (as of now) is how the Republic, and more specifically, its army works. Writing to you was probably the best thing that has happened to my interest in anything. Strategy fascinates me. I love looking at the designs of different blasters. Hell, I've even looked up the more famous battles so I can be more educated. That is progress from my norm (which is failing almost all of my classes). My opinion on the senate, after two weeks of research, is that their intentions are sometimes good, but they can be sleemos as well. They're also always too slow, which is why I'm more interested in the Grand Army of the Republic. Are there a lot of non-Jedi, non-clones in the army?_

_Something interesting happened as a result of your letter. We had to read them in front of the class, and most of my class was pretty cool with our writing, but this one jerk, Clinee (he wrote to Rex), harassed me and inferred that I wanted to screw you (which I don't, by the way. I mean that in the nicest way possible). Long story short, we argued and then I punched him. We fought, and now I'm suspended from school for four days. The kid who started it got one day and a less harsh punishment in school because his friends lied for him. I clean the mess hall for a month. I don't know about your barracks, but our mess hall is worse than the bathrooms. It's so unfair! Do you have any way I could possibly get back at Clinee, or at least expose those lies for what they are? _

_Sincerely,_

_Jalena _

_P.S. Clinee told me that I should ask you for fighting tips. Can you give me some?_

Jalena felt a weight lift off of her chest as she clicked the send button. After that, she started on her homework; it wasn't going to be easy catching up after four days, so her parents made her start early. She was stuck on what felt like was the hardest geometry problem of her life when her computer made a pinging sound, indicating that she'd gotten an email. Excitedly, she turned toward her computer, only to find that it was Mr. Undari sending her the next day's homework. Jalena groaned loudly and flopped on her bed. She was tired of trying to find the surface area of a shape that she couldn't even identify because it had so many things cut out of it. She got ready for bed, and just as she was about to sleep, the computer pinged again, and she looked up tiredly, but still hoping. This time, she got lucky.

_Dear Jalena,_

_I'm sorry about your suspension. I hope that Clinee kid gets what's coming to him. I asked Rex about him, and he said that his letter was one of the worst that our entire legion had gotten (we may have compared the letters from you kids as well), if that makes you feel any better._

_Life's been average lately, battles and such. We're about to go to Ringovinda to battle, so that's something that's coming up lately. Speaking of, I'm glad to see that you're interested in something because of me, but remember that war (despite what the Republic army propaganda may tell you) is not a glorious lifestyle. I had to watch almost all of my squad die in front of me, and two clones that I knew relatively well died by suicide bombing. You have to be ready to sacrifice your life if you're on the front lines. Watch some footage that's a little bit deeper in the Grand Army's website…click on the Third Battle of Kamino's article and there will be a link to all of the security camera videos. If you can watch that and all of the other videos that your can find, you may be ready for a career in the Army. You have a chance of getting in; just get your grades up, okay?_

_Speaking of security cameras, does your school have any? If there was one pointing where you and Clinee were fighting, it would show him coming up to you and him pushing you to your limit before you punched. You'll probably have the same amount of punishment, but he'll have to serve worse as well. _

_Sincerely,_

_Fives_

_P.S. I'm probably not supposed to tell you how to fight, so if anyone asks, you didn't hear it from me. However, everyone knows the haymaker, so if you used that, try punching straight on or using a reverse or something. Also, kicking is much more powerful, so they'll be disabled faster. Don't kick with the top of your foot. You'll only be asking for a bruise._

Jalena smiled as she drifted off to sleep, hoping that Fives would be okay on Ringovinda. She was happy for him giving the genuine advice. He seemed like a bit of a troublemaker too. Now that she thought about it, angles were important for how she would aim blasters and cannons. Maybe she would pay attention in geometry.


	6. Tup Shot Who?

_I'd like to thank everyone who's keeping up with this story, despite the fact that it features an OC, and the fact that the updates are quite sporadic. I'll try to get one or two more in before I'm off to a place where I won't have wifi for the first two weeks of August. Thank you all for the wonderful comments, follows, and favorites. _

**STARTING THIS CHAPTER, THERE WILL BE SPOILERS FOR SEASON SIX**. You have been warned.

* * *

Jalena woke up that day with a purpose. She was going to study, but then she was going to incriminate Clinee for the crime that he committed. She looked at the mountain of homework in front of her and groaned.

"I just need to focus on my career." Jalena breathed. She flopped onto the floor and started reading her dull novel about a water farming family who was struggling to make it through a drought (isn't there a perpetual drought on Tatooine anyway?). After about two hours, Jalena's mama called her downstairs to make and clean up breakfast.

"You were awfully quiet, Jalena. What were you doing?"

"I was reading." Jalena's mama's eyes widened in shock.

"What were you reading?"

"Oh, just something for school."

Jalena's mama nudged her playfully. "Who are you and what have you done with my daughter?" Jalena giggled.

"Your question should be 'what has Fives done to your daughter?'"

"Comocua, get down here! Jalena's reading!" Jalena heard stomping down the stairs as her mother came sprinting into the kitchen.

"Okay, is it the day of pranks? Since when does Jalena read on her own time?"

"Apparently, it's due to that clone she's been writing to, Fives, is it?"

"Yeah, it is." Jalena said.

"I want to hear all about him."

"Well, Fives is a strong-willed individual. He's good at giving advice and also thinks that Clinee is a jerk. He also inspired me…" Jalena took a deep breath in "…to look into joining the Grand Army of the Republic."

"That's a rather impulsive thought, Jalena. Why are you considering this career?" Jalena's mama asked.

"Well, nothing really interested me before looking into the army. When I researched Fives, the entire class period flew by. I looked into the army so I could write back to him, and I wound up reading about different defensive formations until midnight. I figure that it's the best shot I've got, so that's why I'm looking into it."

"Well, the army is quite dangerous, and I wouldn't want you to get killed."

"I know. Maybe the war will be over by the time I'm old enough to join. Who knows?" The family paused and Jalena served breakfast. Jalena's mother turned on the news, and what came out of the speakers shocked the trio:

"…and sources say that a clone went berserk and killed a Jedi!" Jalena's head shot up and she fixated on the television. "…also known as 'Tup' is rumored to have been transported to a medical facility…"

"One of my classmates got a letter from that guy. He's Fives' friend." Jalena said, her voice higher and more strained than normal.

"I thought that clones were bred for loyalty to the Republic." Jalena's mama said worriedly.

"I guess that there was some malfunction in his early development, or maybe Separatist interference. " Jalena mused.

"Jalena, have you given Fives our location?" Jalena's mother asked urgently.

"He only knows the planet we live on." Jalena reassured.

After that, Jalena and her family ate in uncomfortable silence. Jalena washed the dishes and wondered what motivation Tup would have to kill a Jedi. She'd heard of deserters and traitors before, but nothing as extreme as that. She finished her chores early in the afternoon, and started to research how the Jedi related to the Republic. She figured out that, though they were affiliated, they were separate entities, often with different sets of principles and ways of doing things. When the clones were first produced, the Jedi had just joined the Republic and agreed to fight in the Clone Wars. Though some clones were extremely loyal to their Jedi, their first priority was to the Republic. She didn't know how that fit into Tup's betrayal, but it was a good fact to put away for later. Her computer pinged with a message from Fives. She wondered why in the world he'd be mailing her, but she opened it.

_Dear Jalena,_

_Can't make this long, but Tup just shot a Jedi out of the blue and I'm on Kamino as a controlled variable and company for him. He didn't remember anything about shooting the Jedi. We think it's something wrong with his brain. I know he's a good guy—he just needs help. He's just one clone, Jalena. Not all of us are like that. I'll get back to you when we have this wrapped up. _

_Sincerely,_

_Fives._

Jalena looked at her screen, desperate for more. She decided to write another short letter back:

_Dear Fives,_

_I'm glad to know you're okay. What Tup did looks pretty bad on the news—they're painting him as a traitor. Keep in mind, he might be putting up a farce with the no-memory thing. I hope that he's a good guy, but it doesn't look that way. Stay safe, Fives._

_Sincerely,_

_Jalena._

After the letter, Jalena decided to take her mind off of things with her plan to take Clinee down with her. She'd drafted the letter in her head while she tried to fall asleep the night before and at random intervals throughout the day.

_Dear Headmaster,_

_I am Jalena Indiarra, and though I agree that my punishment is fair, I believe that Clinee Fueun got off lightly. The witnesses that came to Clinee's defense during our discussion are all friends of his. I wouldn't put it past them to lie for their friend. If you can find more witnesses, a different picture may be painted. If you need further proof, check the security cameras. You will find that I was walking home alone when Clinee approached me, and I only turn around after a little bit of him aggravating me. If you have audio, that's even better. Please investigate further into this; I want justice just as much as you do._

_Sincerely,_

_Jalena Indiarra._

As she hit the send button, she had a feeling that the headmaster wouldn't do anything about it, but at least she could say that she tried.


	7. Idling

Another day passed, and though Jalena and her parents didn't admit it, they were all watching the news in hopes of finding more about Tup. At the end of the day, and when the news highlights were played, they got more information.

"This just in! Inside sources say that the rouge clone has passed away on Kamino. The causes are unknown. However, the Kaminoans were operating on this clone in order to figure out his condition. More news will be released when we hear it."

"I call bantha poodoo. I'll bet they killed him before they even tried anything. Our hospital doesn't work anywhere near that quickly." Jalena's mama huffed.

"Fives said he was in there as 'a controlled variable.' I really hope that this death isn't going to affect him." Jalena worriedly said.

"Don't worry about Fives, Jalena. You've only been mailing him for a short time anyway." Jalena's mother soothed her. Jalena nodded, and started scrubbing the counter. Jalena meticulously cleaned the kitchen in hopes of catching a bulletin. She didn't think that Fives would be involved, but did the Kaminoans perform the same operation on the two clones to see how they could cure Tup? She found many minor tasks to do around the kitchen in order to prolong her time watching the news, and right when her parents were about to send her to bed, her wait finally paid off.

"A clone has just escaped Kamino! Our sources say that after setting off numerous alarms in the medical facility and nearly killing other clones, CT-27-5555, or Fives-" Jalena shivered, "has finally been captured and apparently being taken to Coruscant. The reasons remain unknown, but, seeing as we have more access to information on Coruscant, stay tuned."

Jalena put down the rag and ran to her room. Was this some sort of virus spreading around? Was it making clones go berserk? Most of all, she hoped Fives was okay. This wasn't the first time he'd disobeyed orders, and the first time had turned out for the better. Jalena decided to put her faith in Fives, and keep as posted as she possibly could. She decided to check her holomail, in an empty hope that she'd find more information. She didn't have an email from Fives, but the headmaster had replied:

_Dear Miss Indiarra,_

_Going through days-old security footage is useless, and the witnesses to the fight are mostly students without a spot on their records who also have good academic track records (more than I can say about you). I assure you that Mr. Fueun got the punishment he deserved, and will be cleaning labs out after the dissection in addition to his suspension. Keep up with your studies._

_Sincerely,_

_Dr. Nuncolvid._

Jalena screamed into her pillow. Were his days too busy to study a tape that was probably two minutes long at the most? Not for the first night, Jalena cried herself to sleep.

The next day of her suspension went by in a similar fashion to the last one. The only bits on the news were reruns of what they'd already said. Jalena paced nervously around the house, seething with anger about Clinee's unfair punishment one minute, and worrying about Fives the next. As Jalena went to sleep that night, she figured that if Fives didn't contact her within the next day, she would write him a goodbye.


	8. Let's Take Action

Jalena nearly slept through her alarm that day, and had to run to school, carrying four days' worth of homework. She couldn't catch that morning's news, so when she barreled into her classroom right when the final bell went off, all she could do was nervously sit and tap her foot.

"Jalena! It's nice to have you back." Mr. Undari said in a tone that made her think that the class was better off without her.

"Here's my homework."Jalena muttered and shoved a large stack of papers in his hands.

"Okay, so now that we have everybody, we can finally do that partner's activity for geometry." Mr. Undari looked at Jalena pointedly. Some of the class groaned and split off into two groups. Jalena got paired with the other kid that nobody wanted to get paired with, so she did the entire project herself. The entire period before lunch went like that, and she thought that she was free for an hour until Dr. Nuncolvid tapped her shoulder.

"Miss Indiarra, you and Clinee will be going to my office to apologize to each other."

Jalena looked the headmaster in the eye. "I will not give a false apology."

"If you do not, it will result in further disciplinary action."

"For what? Isn't lying frowned upon?"

"If you continue to argue, you will be cleaning the mess hall for another week." Jalena sighed, knowing she was beaten, and trudged toward the office again. There, Clinee sat, smirking until the headmaster looked at him.

"Jalena, I am sorry that I punched back when you hit me."

"Clinee," Jalena swallowed the last ounce of her pride, "I am sorry for hitting first. It was an immature move." Jalena still glared at Clinee, and Clinee still smugly smiled at Jalena, but the headmaster deemed the apology acceptable. Jalena walked out of the office a little faster than social etiquette would allow. As Jalena sat down at her table for lunch, she was approached by one of the female witnesses.

"Sorry about Clinee getting off lightly. He was being a jerk. You know what? Clinee got me in trouble this year too. It was small, just a detention, but that's because Fechno negotiated that it was a tiny thing when it really wasn't." She paused. "I never told you my name. I'm Duasque."

"Oh, that's a cool name. Here I thought that Clinee was just a stuck-up jerk, and you're saying he's a liar and gets people in trouble?"

"In a word, yes. You seem like the type to want revenge. Is that true?"

Jalena slowly nodded her head, wondering whether or not this would be a good idea. However, she did not want Clinee to do this to other people, so she cleared her throat: "Yes."

"Okay. I want some experience sneaking around for a future profession I want to take up. I've got one other person in on it, Fechno, the other witness who told the truth. Meet us next lunch, backstage."

"Sounds like an idea. I'll bring my thinking cap." Jalena grinned. Maybe there was a risk of getting in more trouble, but she wanted to do something. Undia plopped her tray down by Jalena.

"What was that about? Isn't she that girl who was involved in the-"

"It doesn't matter what she was involved in. She proposed something great to me and I'm going to do it."

Undia breathed in, "Jalena, don't take this the wrong way, but you're really…spontaneous. Sometimes, that spontaneity gets you into trouble."

"I'm not the only one that Clinee has provoked. Also, I'm a fan of good, old-fashioned revenge."

"Well, I know I'm going to regret saying this, but tell this weird, bounty hunter wannabe girl that I'm in on this too."

Jalena locked eyes with Undia and smiled.

"It's nice to know that you're possibly willing to get in trouble for me." Jalena hugged Undia from across the table.

Undia grinned, "That's what friends are for."


	9. Hold your Tongue

Jalena slumped in her seat, trying to go unnoticed, seeing as she came in late for class. She hated scrubbing down that cafeteria, but she, Undia, Duasque, and Fechno would be raiding the security tapes that night and scanning them for evidence they might use against Clinee. Easy.

"Jalena!" Mr. Undari said, bringing unwanted attention to her. "You might be interested in what just happened in current events. You missed it because of your punishment."

Jalena's temper tempted to flare up, but she took a deep breath in and out and held her tongue. "What's so interesting, mister Undari?"

Mr. Undari gave a theatrical sigh: "The clone you wrote to, Fives, died in the slums of Coruscant today, gunned down by Commander Fox. We were talking about psychology before you came in, if you want to give out some insider information." Jalena didn't respond. She looked down at her desk in shock. She knew that she shouldn't be sad at the death of someone who she had only written to a few times, but she was. Fives had inspired her to look at a military career, which had made her resolve to be less impudent and get better marks in school. He'd been enthusiastic in his replies, rather than just muttering a response like many of the other clones did, even when he did have a busy schedule. He looked at the injustices in her life as legitimate, even though the ones he saw were probably many times as profound. Now she didn't even have a chance to say goodbye to him. Not a chance to say thank you. She knew he'd been onto something great. Something had mattered to him so much that he had to disobey orders again. Tears welled up in her eyes, but she forced herself to keep them down. She felt Undia looking at her from across the room, confused.

"I didn't know how he'd wind up in the slums." Jalena muttered.

"Weren't you close though?" Undari pressed.

"We only exchanged letters a few times. That's not enough to get to know why someone would wreak havoc on Kamino."

Jalena spent the entire rest of the day getting dogged by Mr. Undari and her classmates alike, but she didn't say much.

When the final bell rang, Jalena started out the door with a strange mix of giddy anticipation for that night, grief for Fives, and anger at the boorishness of her classmates. Undia stepped beside her, and they were about a block away from the school when an all-too-familiar voice wafted through the air:

"Are you sad that your boyfriend died, Jalena?"

"Not as sad as your face will be if you don't-"

Jalena got interrupted by Undia. "Come on, let's go. Apparently, Clinee hasn't lost his cooties yet." They started to walk faster.

"Did you have plans to run away with him after the war finished?"

Jalena whirled around and looked Clinee dead in the eyes.

"If you don't have any respect for me, at least have some respect for Fives. He just died. Give him a break." Jalena turned around and kept walking.

"I don't have respect for traitors to the Republic."

"Just keep going, Jalena. He's just trying to get a rise out of you." Undia whispered.

"Yeah, well, it's working." Jalena grumbled.

"Okay, if you're not going to be convinced by that, remember that we're going to get sweet revenge tonight and you can't do that if you're suspended again." Undia pointed out quietly. Jalena grinned at Undia and marched forward.

Clinee stood where he was stupidly before turning around and heading off to his own home.

Jalena kissed her parents goodbye and waved to them as they went out to the protest against separatists. However, she had her own plans for that night. As her conscience tossed and turned, she decided to absentmindedly check her holomail.

Jalena never would have suspected that she would have gotten holomails from the dead, but as clear as day was Fives' address, in glowing blue. She opened it and took a deep breath.

_Jalena,_

_Get some flimsi out and write this down. Delete after you read._

Jalena stopped what she was doing and got out some flimsi and a pen. She looked at the send date. It was sent that day, before she'd heard of the death.

_Despite what you've heard, I'm innocent. There's a big secret within the senate and I'm on the run from the law. The clone army is possibly a time bomb. The government is corrupt. Be careful who you trust. I might be dead when you read this, so good luck. You'll need it._

_Fives._

When the tears came this time, Jalena only forced them back to write the holomail down and delete it. Then she cried and cried. She knew he was innocent, but who else did? As she finished, she realized that Fives would have done this exact same thing, raid the footage to defend his name. As she pulled the hood over her head, her nerves began to calm down. All she had to do was wait outside the bush by Undia's place and walk to the school together. Apparently, Duasque was supposed to already have broken in.


	10. Breaking In

Jalena had snuck out before, and she knew she had to do it during the nightly news, where she knew they'd already be on another topic that was more related to pop culture than the war. The thought made her angry—she knew that there was so much going on in the galaxy that she didn't know, but couldn't because no sources were reporting on them.

She swung out onto the tree branch nimbly, and walked to Undia's house. She'd done her fair share of troublemaking before, but never breaking and entering. She knew that Undia had less experience than her, and this did not soothe her worries.

Undia was better prepared than Jalena thought; as Jalena walked up to Undia's house, she was sliding down the rain drain and onto the ground.

"Glad to see you got past your parents." Jalena laughed.

"Yeah, I was apprehensive about sneaking out, but they don't watch for me to get out." Undia said.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" they asked at the same time. The two laughed quietly and started down the road, how they'd normally go to school. It felt easier as they got farther from their houses and onto the quiet dirt-beaten path.

"Jalena…I'm sorry about Fives. It's pretty bad to just get to know someone and then they die. If you need to talk, you know I'm your best friend, right?"

Jalena nodded and sighed, "Yeah. Look, let's just get this break-in under way. Duasque and Fechno are supposed to be there already."

They walked briskly to the school and tried the janitors' door. Sure enough, it was open. They tiptoed carefully, trying to avoid the cameras until they got to the office.

"Oh, you two did show up after all. Fechno sort of knows technology, so he's sifting through the footage, trying to find your little incident with Clinee." Duasque said.

The three girls watched him as he went through the day and finally paused at the start of the altercation.

"About time." he muttered.

"Quick question. What are we supposed to do with this? The headmaster's going to know that we broke in if we suddenly present this footage to him." Undia asked.

Duasque chuckled quietly. "This isn't for the headmaster. I may have lied about that part. You don't appeal to the authority—you appeal to the people who get in your way. We've got some blackmail for Clinee coming up: blackmail that we'll release if he fucks up again."

Jalena and Undia slowly nodded at each other and Jalena grinned. "I like the way she thinks."

"Yeah, pretty clever." Undia replied tightly.

They watched as Fechno took that video and put it on his thumb drive. He looked through other footage slowly as the others stood watch.

"So, Duasque, I've heard you want to become a bounty hunter. Are the rumors true?" Undia asked.

"Yeah. There's holonet forums that are full of kids like me, who want to become bounty hunters. I see the lifestyle, I see the money, and I want it. The bounty hunters…they're surprisingly unsupportive. I used to think it's because they didn't want competition, but a few of them did a live webchat with some of us in the forum. They see newbies like us getting killed all the time, who don't know how to shoot, who can't be a bounty hunter. They don't want us to be like them because the lifestyle sucks."

"Why do you still want to be a bounty hunter?" Undia asked.

"You don't understand. I was really out of shape before this. I was lazy, my social life took a nosedive, and I didn't want to do anything. There were days were I couldn't make it off the bed. There still are days like that, but there are less of them now. When I heard about bounty hunting, killing the scum of the galaxy for a living, it got me moving again, eating again. I know that lifestyle is shit, killing people, but it has to be better than lying around on the couch, not knowing if I'll survive until the next week or not."

"Did you start taking meds for that?" Undia asked.

"Yeah, that too, but even with the meds, nothing motivated me. I still felt numb, but it felt like I was a droid, walking around and completing daily tasks. When I found out about bounty hunting, I felt more alive than I ever had."

Undia shot Jalena a look, and was disturbed to find her nodding.

"Yeah. I wasn't as bad as you, but nothing really interested me until I found out about the GAR. I hope that you find more drives."

Nobody said anything for a while after that. Undia tried to understand the other two, and Jalena and Duasque self-reflected while Fechno pulled up the last video.

"Let's get out. It's almost three, and if we don't get out before the cleaning droids come in, we're all dead."

The four escaped the premises together, and Duasque and Fechno assured Jalena and Undia that they would take care of the blackmailing.

Thank you guys for waiting for me to update. I haven't been good at it and this story was not speaking to me. However, I had gotten this far and I did have the end in mind, so I decided to write it out for you so you and I both could have a conclusion. There's an epilogue after this, which will be uploaded at the same time. Again, thank you. It means a lot to me.


	11. Epilogue

Jalena continued to work at her studies, even though her grades went down sometimes due to the lack of motivation, and then she remembered Fives and worked toward her goal, despite his final words. She lived through the Republic becoming the Empire, but as Undia looked through the laws, she and Jalena started to like it less and less.

"Look at this. They just legalized slavery again. Slavery! All the work the Republic did trying to prevent it for nothing."

Jalena shook her head. She was almost eligible to try out for the Imperial Academy; she still wanted to join the army, work her way up until she was in charge of strategy where she was the happiest, but she started to despise what she could be fighting for.

"When Fives told me to analyze the Senate, I never imagined a more inefficient political body. The Senate does almost nothing right now—it's really to hide Palpatine's power. The Jedi, who saved our planet at one point, turn out to be traitors. It just makes no sense and I don't like it." Jalena complained to Undia.

When the two graduated, Undia started law school and Jalena took a starter job as a low-level security guard for a private firm. They heard bits and pieces from Fechno and Duasque, who had started careers as a computer analyst and a bounty hunter, respectively. Duasque was getting herself known in underworld circles, and was C-list bounty hunter, known for brutally murdering her victims.

"Look, Jalena. I know that you liked Duasque when we were in school, but I never felt right about her." Undia confessed one day.

"Was it the depression, Undia? I have something to tell you then."

"No, Jalena. I knew about you ever since your moms gave me a lecture about me being patient with you and not making a huge deal about it when I was eleven and you started your medication. You have depression, and that's fine by me. Duasque's just always put me off a bit, seeing as actual bounty hunters told her to not do the murdering and she still did. Not to mention, she seems to like the killing."

Jalena paused for a while and eventually replied to Undia. "Thanks for not making a huge deal about my depression. Can you keep doing that after this conversation?"

Undia nodded and patted Jalena on the shoulder.

Later, Undia heard of a Rebel alliance and told Jalena quietly about it one day when they were at home. Jalena nodded and asked if they needed a strategist.

"Yeah, they do need some people leading the military operations, I think. The Alliance is still pretty small."

"Count me in."


End file.
